Intelligence - Gift or Curse?

Mensa International High IQ Society

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration" - Thomas Edison


When one hears the terms "IQ", "Intelligence" and "Genius", the likes of Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Socrates might come to mind. Additionally, they are words often associated with success. 


The problem is, successful people aren't always the smartest people. Yes there are a lot of smart wealthy people out there, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and so on. Apart from their intelligence, their drive and pure luck were major key factors in success. 




So why would Intelligence be a curse? Mensa is a society specifically for people in the top 98th percentile. I.e. Only 1 in 50 people are smart enough to join this elite club. Mensa came about because two guys met one day, had completely different background but got along like a house on fire. They realised the only thing in common was their intelligence. Most of your friends are usually within a 10 point range of your IQ. So you can imagine, that out of 1000 people, Mensan's can only really relate to about 20 people intellectually. You'll find many intelligent people without any (forget "good") social skills and on the opposite side, they could appear normal. So that's great, smart people can now join a society and make friends quicker. It still doesn't make general socialising any easier.


The social aspect obviously affects one's career. If people don't like you, there's no way they're going to make you the CEO. Additionally, studies have shown that putting "Mensa Member" on your CV actually reduces the chances of getting a job. People are threatened by intelligent people. If you knew that the person you wanted to hire was smarter and more qualified than you, would you not be scared? 


Some might say smart people are a dying breed. As Gareth Cliff pointed out in a discussion session, the movie "Idiocracy" predicts that more stupid people are breeding than the intelligent ones. Is there any truth to this? Well, look around you. How many people do you know with PhD's or there Masters have kids already. How many people without completing high school have children? Also look at quantities of kids. 


If you don't know many people, use the wonderful tool known as Google to give you an indication of first, literacy rate and then birth rate of a 3rd world country like South Africa or Nigeria and then compare it to a 1st world country such as America or preferably Switzerland. Switzerland is virtually begging the population to breed. Carry on doing this with other countries, I'll guarantee you'll notice a trend. 


What does it mean to be intelligent? You get to see the world differently. Certain things come easier to you. All great, except you might not have any friends nor get a great job. Being socially awkward could lead to depression. Being exceptionally intelligent could lead to laziness. At the end of the day, what's the point of having something if you're not going to use it? Having an IQ of 180 does not mean you're brilliant. Doing something brilliant with it, makes you brilliant.


There is a big debate of nature vs nurture. Are you born smart? Or does your environment affect you? If you look at the top of my post, you'll see where I stand. 

Purpose

Before everyone jumps the gun here, I do not intend to define everyone's purpose in the universe (even though I am that arrogant, now's not the right time). I would rather focus on the purpose of this blog...


Over the past decade the phenomenon known has the "internet" grown exponentially and so has our dependency on it. We can either fight it or embrace it. Obviously there are people out there making millions/billions who have come to this realisation a lot earlier.


For me, it's not about money really. My purpose for living is to ensure I am always making a (positive) contribution. Not by being a charity or anything of the sort necessarily. Improving the quality of someone's life even for a second makes my day. When last did you give someone a random compliment without any expectations? So the intention of this blog, is to contribute in some way or another. 


Thanks to a talk from the South African 5FM presenter, Gareth Cliff, I've decided to make theme of course to "start thinking". Hopefully by stirring up the cerebral pot, thinking can hopefully lead to positive action. 


Please note: 

1. This blog only reflects my opinion and facts will be referenced when necessary.
2. Some of the topics to be included will be offensive, I would recommend not reading the particular post if it is.
3. I am no expert in many of the topics to be discussed nor am I a professional writer. 
4. I plead than only constructive comments are posted and of course please ensure they relate to the content of the post. 
5. Last but not least, take everything here as seriously as you want too. Ignore what you want but take home what you find positive.